


Purple

by zorac



Series: Echo Park - an anthology [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), RWBY
Genre: Cosplay, Gen, Halloween, International Fanworks Day 2017, No Storm in Arcadia Bay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 18:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9779030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zorac/pseuds/zorac
Summary: With the Halloween party fast approaching, four girls from Blackwell Academy need a costume plan. The answer lies with another quartet from Beacon Academy…





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little bit of _Life is Strange_ fluff for International Fanworks Day (which I only found out about on the day…)

“So,” asked Chloe, “are you both going to the Halloween party?”

“Yep,” replied Max, “I already promised Dana that I would go. I take it you’re planing on gatecrashing?” Chloe simply smirked.

“I… I’m not sure,” said Kate. “I don’t know if I’m ready to face something like that again.”

Max put an arm around her. “Well, this party has nothing to do with the Vortex Club. Plus Chloe and I can stick with you the whole night and make sure nobody messes with you.”

“I’ll think about it,” Kate promised. “I’m just worried that it might be too soon.”

“Don’t take too long,” Chloe prompted, “we need to come up with some hella awesome costumes.”

Sensing Kate’s discomfort, Max quickly changed the subject. “So… what are we going to watch?”

“I dunno,” answered Chloe, “what’s new and shiny?”

“Well, the latest chapter of RWBY should be out now…”

“We should totally watch that!”

“…but I doubt Kate…” Max trailed off as she realized that was who just spoke. “I stand corrected. RWBY it is, then!” She looked up the new episode on YouTube and they sat back to watch.

It was a few minutes later, when they were done, that the idea came to Max. “Dude! We should totally cosplay Team RWBY for our Halloween costumes!” The slack jaws of the other two girls were all the answer she needed. “Obviously, as resident short-ass, I should be Ruby.”

“Plus you want that fabulous red cape and the ridiculously oversized scythe,” Chloe snarked.

“You know me so well. Clearly, you should be the impulsive Yang.”

“Guilty as charged, although it’s gonna need some serious bra-stuffing.”

“And you,” Max continued, turning to Kate, “ought to be the more quiet and serious Blake. Plus you’re the only one of us who has a chance of pulling off that cute hair bow.” Kate appeared to consider this for a moment, then nodded and smiled.

“And that,” remarked Chloe, “brings us to your plan’s fatal flaw. We’ll look hella lame if we turn up with three quarters of a team. We need to find someone to be Weiss.”

After a long pause, Kate piped up. “We could ask Victoria.”

“Victoria?” asked Chloe. “Your arch-nemesis, the rich bitch queen of Blackwell?” She paused for a moment. “I see what you did there.”

“Are you sure about this?” asked Max. “I mean, can you really forgive her for what she did, and is she even going to have a clue what RWBY is?”

“I’ve already forgiven Victoria, and she’s the one who introduced me to the show.”

“Wait, what?” asked Max. “You’ve been… hanging out with her?”

Kate sighed. “She sent me that sweet card while I was in the hospital, and then when I got back she gave me such a heartfelt apology that I had to forgive her. I could tell how much she hated who she’d become; I’ve discovered that there’s actually a decent person underneath that hard shell. Since then we’ve been spending time together – Victoria said I’m the only person she trusts to,” and here she used air quotes, “‘call her on her bullshit without being a total bitch about it.’”

“Well,” said Chloe, “if it’s okay with you, I guess it’s okay with us.”

“Great!” Kate bounced up off the couch. “I’ll go ask her now.” A moment later, she was across the hall and knocking on her friend’s door. After a few seconds, Victoria opened it, then smiled.

“Hi, Kate, nice to see you!”

“You too, Victoria.” She hesitated for a moment. “So, were you planning on going to the Halloween party?”

Victoria looked at her, as if unsure as to which answer Kate was hoping for. Eventually she settled on, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Well, I was hoping that you might come with me… and Max and Chloe.” Victoria’s face first brightened, then darkened. “We had this idea that we could dress up as Team RWBY and…”

Victoria’s face truly lit up. “You need a Weiss?” she asked eagerly. “Tell me you need a Weiss!”

“We need a Weiss,” Kate confirmed with a big grin.

“I am _so_ totally up for that.”

“I thought you might be. Come on.” Kate dragged Victoria back into the other room.

“Er, hi,” Max greeted her uncertainly.

“Maxine,” Victoria acknowledged her. Then, after closing her eyes for a moment, “Max. I’m sorry. I know I’ve not been very nice to you. And I should have thanked you before; for being there to help Kate when she needed you most. I can’t bear to think what might have happened if you hadn’t…” She started to tear up, and Kate gave her a brief hug. After a moment, she pulled herself together. “So, what’s the plan?”

Seeing an imperceptible nod from Kate, Chloe spoke. “We’ve got two things to sort out: costumes, and weapons. I may have gotten my ass kicked out of this place, but shop class is the one thing I actually managed not to suck at; plus I happen to know that Mr. Arnold is a closet anime geek, so I think we can get his help with the weapons.”

Victoria nodded. “I have a few ideas about where we can get some of the clothes we’ll need.”

“And I’m a dab hand with a sewing machine,” Kate added.

“Awesome!” Max enthused. “Go team… M C K V. Hmmm. M V C K? Er… mauve check?”

“No,” said Victoria. “That’s a terrible name. Purple is _so_ not my color.”

Chloe looked thoughtful. “Team Maverick? Just so long as we don’t go Tom Cruise Crazy.”

“That sounds good,” agreed Kate. “Beacon Academy, here we come!”

* * *

The next afternoon found Chloe and Max heading round the back of the school to the somewhat neglected shop classroom. The teacher seemed surprised to see, well, anyone; nonetheless, he greeted them warmly. “Chloe Price! Always good to see one of my favorite _former_ pupils; I won’t ask what you’re doing back on school grounds. And… Max, is it? I seem to remember helping you fix that old Polaroid camera a few weeks back. How can I help you two ladies?”

“Hi, Mr. A,” Chloe began. “I was hoping you were familiar with the online show RWBY.”

“Of course,” he replied indignantly, “I was eagerly awaiting it since they first showed off the Red trailer.”

“Cool. We were hoping you’d agree to be the armourer for our little Halloween cosplay project.”

He grinned widely. “Now that sounds like an excellent way to alleviate the tedium of this job. So, who will you be portraying?”

“Well, Max here will be Ruby Rose, and I’m going to be Yang Xiao Long.”

“You certainly have the personality for her. So, is it just the sisters, or are there more of you?”

“There are,” said Max. “The other half of Team Maverick are in charge of costuming. We have Kate Marsh as Blake Belladonna, and Victoria Chase as Weiss Schnee.”

The teacher actually laughed. “Well, isn’t that a perfect piece of casting. How on earth did you get Miss Chase to agree?”

“From what Kate said, Victoria practically begged for the part,” explained Max. “It seems she’s a huge fan.”

Mr. Arnold raised his eyebrows, and then ambled over to his computer and ran a quick search. After a few moments, he looked up. “Well, it seems that various people have already posted schematics for cosplay versions of the weapons online. We’ll just need to take some measurements to make sure we get the sizing right. Max first, I think, since Crescent Moon is going to be the biggest job.”

* * *

On Saturday morning, Victoria drove into town with a nervous passenger. “Are you sure about this,” Kate asked, “being seen in public with me?”

“I meant what I said. I want to be a better person, and I can’t do that if I’m constantly afraid of what the Vortex Clubbers will think of me. If they have a problem with us being friends, then that’s _their_ problem; I won’t make it mine.”

“Thank-you, that means a lot to me.” She looked at the store Victoria was parking up in front of. “A thrift shop?”

“Trust me, it’s the perfect place for the sort of stuff we need.”

“I just find it hard to imagine Victoria Chase shopping for clothes anywhere other than some fancy high-end designer store.”

“Perhaps you’re not the only one who isn’t quite what people think she is.”

“I guess so,” said Kate, smiling as they got out of the car.

Inside the store were seemingly endless racks of clothing. “So,” said Victoria, “you’re mostly here to offer opinions on the things I find, and to carry my selections, but if you spot anything that I’ve overlooked, do let me know.” Kate raised an eyebrow at her. “That a bit more what you were expecting from me?”

“Yes,” replied Kate, laughing, “very imperious.”

An hour or so later, they arrived at the checkout, Kate laden down with a large pile of mismatched garments. “So, is this everything we need?”

“Most of it; we’ll need to get some fabric to make Ruby’s cloak, and maybe a few other bits and pieces. The rest should be doable with some alterations. Once we get back to the school, we can lay this all out properly and see where we are.”

* * *

On Sunday afternoon, the girls reconvened in Max’s room for a progress update meeting. “So, Chloe somehow managed to persuade Mr. Arnold to loan us the keys to the shop classroom. We’ve been able to put in a good few hours over the weekend, and we’re making good progress on the weapons. We’re going to need his help with some of the trickier bits, but we should be done in plenty of time. I’ll just need to take some quick measurements to make sure we get things the right size for you two.” Max pulled out her phone and showed the other pair some photos of the work in progress.

“Those are looking good,” said Victoria with a smile that conveyed grudging approval. “We went clothing and fabric shopping yesterday, and I’m pretty sure we’ve got everything we need. Kate really is a demon with a sewing machine.” She stopped herself. “Sorry, poor word choice.”

Kate gave her a small smile. “That’s okay, Victoria. Anyway, I’m going to need to borrow you two later so that I can make sure your costumes will actually fit. Once that’s sorted, we’ve got some screen printing to do for the character logos, and then I just need to finish up the sewing.”

“One other thing occurred to me,” continued Victoria. “Hair is going to be a problem. We’ve all got short hair, but Ruby’s the only character whose isn’t long. That means that while Max can get away with a dye job, the rest of us are going to need wigs. I have a friend who works in theatre; she owes me a favor or two, so hopefully borrowing some shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Max pondered this. “You know, I could quite go for having reddish black hair – as long as it’s temporary. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, we should totally be recording this project,” said Chloe, excitedly. “We could make one hella awesome eighties music montage!”

Max and Kate laughed at that; Victoria merely looked pained.

* * *

Thursday evening found Team Maverick nervously assembled outside the Blackwell swimming pool: costumes adjusted, wigs firmly fixed in place, weapons at the ready. “Okay, team,” said Max, slipping into her role as their leader and trying to sound more confident than she felt. “We’ve all put a lot of hard work into our costumes, and it really shows. Are we ready to do this?”

“Hell, yeah!” replied Chloe, striking a pose, Ember Celica at the ready,

“Um. I guess,” said Kate shyly. “I’m just worried that nobody is going to know who we’re supposed to be.”

“Warren and Stella will for sure,” said Max encouragingly. “I’m pretty sure we can’t be the only anime geeks at Blackwell.”

“Either way, it doesn’t matter,” said Victoria in an authoritative voice, emphasizing her point with a stab of Myrtenaster. “Whether they recognize us or not, we look fantastic.”

“And hot,” added Chloe. “Don’t forget hot.”

“I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with the idea of being hot,” Kate mumbled.

Victoria surprised them all by giving her a quick hug. “No-one should feel uncomfortable about being hot. Don’t worry – you have your three teammates to look after you tonight. We’ll make sure that nothing untoward happens to you at _this_ party.”

After a moment Kate nodded, and then smiled. “Thank-you. All of you.”

“Alright, then. Let’s go!” Max lead them into the building. As luck would have it, the two people she was hoping for were hanging out just inside the entrance.

“Oh. My. God.” shouted Warren over the music. “Team RWBY has entered the building!” Heads turned, and there was a scattering of cheers.

“You guys look _awesome_!” enthused Stella. “I can’t imagine how much effort you must have put into this.”

The four girls shared smiles as several other classmates came over to congratulate them. Chloe turned to Max with a huge grin. “I love it when a plan comes together!”

**Author's Note:**

> This was massively scaled back from my original idea of a full-on crossover, on the grounds that that was going to be _way_ too much work for this project. I may come back to that and send Team MVCK to Beacon some day when I'm done with _Echo Park_.
> 
> Series notes: So this one falls squarely into the category of “idea first, match it to a song later.” In this case, that thought process mostly boiled down to “so, colours are important in RWBY, and purple is a colour…”


End file.
